I would like briefly to address the seminarians as they begin their new academic year.
Today, as we exalt the most precious and life-giving Cross, we see an instrument of torture and death that has been transformed, by the power of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection, into a instrument of victory over death, the world, and the devil. Through Christ’s Pascha, the Cross has become our greatest weapon against temptation, sin, and spiritual death.
We are surrounded by temptations to conform ourselves to the ways of the world and to substitute the life in Christ for the spiritual death of sin. Some of these temptations are obvious, and some are less so.
On the one hand, we are called to conform the practices and rhythms of our lives to the feasts and fasts of the Christian year, not to the pleasures and sorrows of this passing world. We are called to receive and teach the holy doctrines of the apostles and the fathers, not the novelties and perversions of this age. And we are called to live according to those teachings, not according to our own appetites and desires and notions.
And yet we are also called to avoid vainglory, pride, anger, and judgment. Our fasts and our feasts will not please the Lord if we do them for display—whether that display is directed towards our physical communities or our online social networks. Our faithfulness to the doctrines of the Church is of no avail if we angrily dispute with our neighbors or with acquaintances and strangers on social media. Our efforts to live a moral, virtuous life mean nothing if our mind is filled with anger and judgment against others.
As Christians, we are called to a life of perfect action and perfect contemplation. We must be active in studying and teaching the truth, in the preaching and practice of virtue. But we must also remain at all times recollected in God, asking him for his aid, and offering up all our efforts to him. We must remember that all of our efforts are nothing but steps toward the knowledge of God, the love of the Lord, and everlasting union with him, a possibility which has been opened unto us by the great work of Jesus Christ, our true God and only Savior.
As a new academic year begins, you are embarking upon a season of especially intense study and formation. I pray that, during this time, you will keep the Lord at the center of your efforts, avoid unprofitable distractions and habits, and focus all your words, deeds, and thoughts on the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of our salvation.
May you always fix your gaze on the image of the Cross and sign yourselves with that holy sign, reminding yourselves of the crucified Lord whom you serve and the cruciform shape of your service. May the Cross of Christ be your strength, your joy, and your salvation amid all the challenges, inner and outer, that face you during your time at seminary and throughout the days of your life.
With that, I wish you all a joyous feast of the Cross. I pray that the Lord will make this academic year fruitful for you all.